BLACKBURN Hawks slipped to a disappointing defeat against Whitley at the weekend in the Northern League Cup competition.

The Hawks fell 6-0 to the north-eastern side and slipped six points behind the qualifying top four spots.

General manager Graham Lomax insisted the result was not a fair reflection of the game or his side's performance.

He said: "The result sounds like we got a pasting, but in fact it was far from that. I was impressed with the lads - they did ok.

"At the end of the first period it was goalless and could have gone either way. Whitley nicked a goal in the second then we had one disallowed for no reason at all. The luck is really not going for us at the moment.

"We had plenty of shots, but we are making little mistakes that are being punished. It is understandable though. We have an extremely young side and they are bound to make mistakes every now and again.

"This season is really about building for us. Of course, we want to win our games, but it is mainly about putting down a marker for the future.

"Some of the lads are only 16 so we just need to give them time."

Hawks were without the services of Craig Rogers and David Meikle on Sunday, but Blackburn are hopeful of the pair returning for next weekend's huge encounters with Scottish giants Fife Flyers and fierce arch-rivals Flintshire Freeze.